Midnight Disease

Midnight Disease

by Tom Nothnagle

Like Iowa City’s writers, Tom has battled the solitary nature of his first artistic love, classical guitar. This third album marks a feisty juncture toward a new technique.

Gigging at Mexican restaurants with his buddy Raymundo Rosales (aka Mundo), Tom’s musicianship shifted from the solo classical influence of his twenties to the live duet-soloing that characterizes it today. With Mundo covering rhythm and vocals, Tom was free to solo on the fly. After their act split, Tom learned that Pierre Bensusan was evolving his own signature fingerstyle with duet-soloing through a looping device. Adding a looping device freed Tom to capture the rhythm part Mundo provided, then solo on top.

Recorded in his brother’s studio office, this album reflects the first stage of Tom’s evolving technique with a lot of the Latin feel from Mundo’s influence and just prior to evolving his own signature style: improvised live duets with the looping device. Quirkily Peter, the Nothnagle elder brother and a twin, duplicitously recorded Tom in the two days straddling a New Year’s midnight hour. Saturated as it is with creative expression, Iowa City's writers burn a lot of midnight oil for the arts. Tom does too.